Producer Managed Efforts in Marketing of Livestock - Livestock Products

Producer Managed Efforts in Marketing of Livestock - Livestock Products

Summary

This project continues to go well. The curriculum for the educational program was developed on scheduled. The regional train-the-trainer workshop was held in September, 2005 in Greensboro North Carolina with forty participants from nine states and territories. Extension, departments of agriculture, non government groups and farmers were present as program participants and as presenters.
The sessions covered six topics. Five were content. The other was process. The five content areas were agro-entrepreneurship; food safety, regulations, permits and licenses; marketing; and business assessment. The process sessions covered the program logic model and reporting results.
After the workshop program participants returned to their states and territories and are expected to conduct training using the program materials. The program materials, revised, based on the workshop feedback, are being made available as a website. An outside evaluator is following the process through the state level training to be able to report impacts.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. After participating in the regional workshop educational programs, at least 25 extension faculty, 20 other agricultural educator- partners will have become informed about issues relating to marketing livestock products. They will then return home and will conduct Extension in-service training and other educational programs in their states and territories so that 500 field faculty and information providers from across the region will become knowledgeable about marketing livestock during the coming year.
2. Of that number, after participating in the state level educational program, at least 10 extension faculty, 15 farmer partners and 3 non profit group partners who work specifically with limited resource farmers will demonstrate and report educational outreach programs in their counties or with their constituents so that 100 limited resource farmers will be knowledgeable about marketing livestock and livestock products in North and South Carolina, Virginia Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.
3. After participating in the educational program 15 sustainable agriculture coordinators or their designated representatives along with 15 partners will bring the information to their states/ territories for dissemination so that at least 2000 additional producers across the Southern region will be able to market livestock and livestock products in a more knowledgeable way or are able to dialogue with regulators and legislators about rules and regulations governing such marketing.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Core team provided the workshop materials and presentations.

Curriculum materials developed and printed.
Workshop website and evaluation plan implemented.
Regional workshop conducted with materials distributed to all participants.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Forty five agricultural educators (7 field faculty, 4 farmers, 2 NGO members, 2 departments of agriculture staff, 29 state level extension faculty, 1 school of agriculture department head) from ten state/territories (AL, AR, KY, LA, NC, PR, SC, TN, TX, VI) in southern region participated in the workshop and received materials for use in their own train-the-trainer efforts.
Forty five program participants reported changes in attitude.
Forty five program participants reported increased knowledge on the topics covered.
Several reported experiencing the unintended consequences of gains in networking and understanding of what others were doing in the area of producer managed marketing of livestock products.
Evaluation responses of the program participants were gathered and used in revision of the program materials.

Collaborators: